⚜️ ODD ⚜️ Aleksander Morozova [ENGLISH]

1 • Принцесса

1 • Princess

There was a note of apprehension in princess Darya's gaze, not because she didn't know what was going to happen, but rather because she knew the consequences of it.

At 18 years of age, Darya Konstantynovna Lantsov had been offered in marriage to prince Ragnar of Fjerda, and along with the answer came a problem.

There were Grisha in queen Gianna's family, who hauled from Novyi Zem. Therefore, the Fjerdan royalty demanded princess Darya was tested before accepting the alliance,

At any moment did the princess doubt she was Grisha. And if she was being honest, she'd rather be Grisha than go to Fjerda. But king Konstantyn did not know that, so he sent for a Grisha with amplifying powers to test his daughter.

It was pathetic the form in which that dark-haired young man was thrown at the king, queen, and their four children's feet. Darya had heard of him, the Darkling.

The young woman's head tilted to the side in curiosity as she observed the shadow summoning Grisha. There was something that pulled her to him, and she could notice the same feeling in her older siblings Ilyana and Vladmir, but not in the firstborn, the prince Anastas.

When the Darkling touched Darya's arm, the flames from all the candles in the room rose and roared in fury.

Horrified, king Konstantyn ordered that all of his children were tested, his blaming look falling over his wife.

Out of the four of them, only Anastas wasn't Grisha. That was the day all changed.

Surprisingly, Anastas was the first to show support to his siblings, such that was offered to all Grisha in Ravka.

Darya had always admired the ambition inside the Darkling's gray gaze. The way he observed things looked like he was always strategizing, and most of his strategies were to Grisha's benefit. The princess longed to have a look exactly like his.

The palace thrived. Os Alta thrived. Ravka thrived as if the Grisha were a sign of good luck for all, but king Konstantyn, who in a matter of months fell ill of such a sickness not even Ilyana, exceptional Healer she was, could cure.

All dressed in black for the funeral, and in secrecy, Darya ravished on how well the color looked on her almost as much as red did. It made her feel powerful. Truth is, neither she nor Ilyana held their father in much regard, as he had always treated them as simple transactional objects.

Being Grisha had brought her and Ilyana a kind of freedom that to them used to be mere fantasy: no kingdom wanted to have their hairs married to Grisha princesses. Much less to such powerful Grisha princesses, trained by the master of shadows himself.

In time, now Anastas was king, Vladmir his right-hand man, Ilyana his royal doctor, and Darya... She was not yet quite sure where did she fit in, but from what she had, she yearned for more.

"I heard a story." she told the Darkling a certain once, mid a dull formal diner in which none of both really wanted to talk to dignitaries, so they ended up entertaining each other.

"Don't you think you are a little old for stories, Dasha?" he asked the now 24-year-old princess, the nickname slipping from his tongue with the familiarity of who shared an ambition.

"I heard that ancient Grisha were not limited to the ability they were born with, but rather learned and practiced all aspects of the Small Science." Darya carried on, ignoring the comment the Grisha leader had made.

"It is true. But not all of today's Grisha has either the talent or control for such." he confirmed, averting his gaze to the woman in curiosity.

"I do." she stated confidently, a scorching gaze towards his skeptic chuckle. "I know I do. And I wish to learn. I want to be able to do it all. And then, I shall find other Grisha with the same talent and train them. A new Grisha order."